The Princess and the Smuggler
by unsaltysaltines
Summary: Xena and Gabrielle meet a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Xena/Star Wars AU (Episode IV meets some original tweaking).


"Into the garbage chute, flyboy!"

 _Good lord_ , Xena thought. _Flyboy?_

Sure, they were currently in grave danger, but right now the smuggler was having a hard time comprehending everything going on in front of her.

Xena had never needed anyone before. She and Chewie had been roaming the galaxy for years, low-key mischief-makers who had never been in quite this serious a bind before. Sure, just last week they had been trying to outrun some thugs and nearly crashed the Argo II into an asteroid larger than any they'd ever seen, but never had the fate of the entire galaxy been resting in their hands before.

Then they had rescued a princess.

A princess who was nothing like anyone Xena had ever encountered.

Quite frankly, Gabrielle could have simply blown in her face and she'd have gone tumbling down that damn chute, she was so weak in the knees.

"XENA!"

The sharp yell snapped her out of her reverie. Xena jumped down the chute without another thought.

She let out a grunt as she hit the garbage below, and before she had time to move suddenly she found herself enveloped by a mess of flying wookiee.

"Get off me, you big lug," Xena grunted, shoving the hairy creature off her as he tried to get his own bearings. She knew Gabrielle would come flying next, and she wasn't going to waste an opportunity to get closer, no matter how close to death they were.

A loud yell preceded the princess's arrival. She came flying out of the trash chute and landed directly on top of Xena, momentarily knocking the wind out of her.

"What now, genius?" Xena asked grumpily, as the stench of the garbage started to creep into her nostrils.

With a loud groan, the compactor's walls shuddered to a halt.

Gabrielle threw her arms around the Xena's neck out of relief, swearing loudly.

"Well I never thought I'd hear _that_ sort of language come out of a royal mouth," Xena said with a wicked cackle, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman's waist.

She locked eyes with the blonde, and both of them grinned.

"Let's get out of here, hm?"

*****************************************************************************************************  
Back on the Argo II, Xena, Gabrielle, and Garrett had finally ditched their stolen Stormtrooper garb, grateful to be back in their own clothes.

"God, I'm going to smell like trash for days," Xena grumbled as she bent over to lace up her boots.

"Mmmm," Gabrielle mumbled. Xena's long dark hair had fallen over her shoulder, and Gabrielle suddenly found herself very distracted by the way it framed her face just right.

Xena was cocky. She was the worst driver Gabrielle had ever encountered. And she was well-known for working with many of the galaxy's less-than-savory inhabitants.

And then there was the wookiee. Gabrielle just didn't get the wookiee.

"I'm gonna go check out the damage in the engine room. Wanna come, Princess?" Xena asked, tying her hair back with a leather cord. "I wanna get us out of here as fast as possible."

The two of them worked in silence for several minutes before Xena let out a sharp yelp.

"Shit!"

Gabrielle nearly jumped out of her skin.

"What did you do?!"

"Burned m'self," Xena grumbled, sucking on her injured finger. "Damn lasers…"

"Here, let me see that." Gabrielle said without thinking, reaching for the other woman's hand. She couldn't help but smirk when she saw that the burn in question was nothing worse than a scald from some hot water.

"What's so funny, Princess?"

"You'll live," Gabrielle said, patting Xena's hand and turning back to the control panel she was working on. "Xena can you help me with this…why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" Xena shook her head and quickly looked away. Busted.

"Are you…Xena are you _blushing_?"

Xena swallowed and tried to focus intently on the control panel Gabrielle had mentioned.

"No…see these fuses here are shot…" Xena mumbled. "I've got some spare wiring somewhere in here…" She turned to leave and look for the right parts, but was stopped by a hand on her forearm.

"Wait…don't…" Gabrielle said quietly, not looking at Xena.

Xena swallowed her snarky comment as Gabrielle turned to look at her, green eyes flashing with uncertainty.

"What's up, Princess?" Xena asked as she moved closer to the blonde.

Gabrielle didn't say anything. Instead, she reached up and wrapped her hand around the taller woman's neck, hands shaking.

"C'mere," Gabrielle growled.

Gabrielle just barely brushed her lips against Xena's, a kiss so light Xena wondered for a split second if it was really happening.

Xena didn't have time to react as Gabrielle pressed her body against Xena's, silently asking for more. Xena wrapped her arms around the smaller woman's waist and deepened the kiss.

"Gabrielle…" Xena breathed.

A sudden yell from the wookiee startled them both, cutting Xena off and effectively killing the moment.

"Lousy good-for-nothing…what's the use of having a copilot if he can't keep a decent lookout…" Xena growled darkly as she took off for the cockpit. Gabrielle didn't quite know what was going on until she heard the commotion outside.

"You gotta fix that wiring," Xena yelled from the cockpit, where she was frantically trying to boot up the Argo II's main computer systems. "We gotta get out of here or we're all toast!"

"Shit," Gabrielle said to herself, frantically repairing the busted wiring the best she could. "That'll have to do. LET'S GO!" She roared.

Hearing a yell from the engine room, Xena and Chewie flipped a few switches and the Argo II took off, speeding away from the Stormtroopers who were now storming the hangar, narrowly dodging their blaster fire.

*****************************************************************************************************  
As they sped away from the Death Star, Gabrielle appeared in the cockpit and filled Xena in on the repairs she had made.

"Jesus, Princess, I didn't know you had it in you!" Xena turned from the controls to shoot Gabrielle a quick wink.

"You're not the only one with many skills, you know."

"Looks like we'll be okay to get up to light speed after all, Chewie! Buckle in, Princess!"

The wookiee flipped a switch, and Gabrielle was thrown backwards at the sudden acceleration. Rather than try and fight it, she sat up against the wall, rubbing her head.

"You all right back there?"

"Yeah, I'll live." Gabrielle pulled her hand away and was surprised to find her scalp was bleeding a little.

"Sorry, I probably shoulda given you a second before we jumped," Xena said, laughing as she turned around to see the blonde looking disheveled and a little confused. "Hey are you bleeding?" Xena's tone changed abruptly.

"Eyes on the road, I'll be fine! Xena, _pay attention_!" Gabrielle gestured at Xena to turn around. She didn't exactly want to meet her end at the hands of a distracted spaceship pilot while traveling at light speed. Whatever she had done to her head could wait.

*****************************************************************************************************  
"Here, let me take a look."

Once they began making their final approach, Xena handed the reins over to Chewie so she could take a look at Gabrielle's injury. She grabbed the first aid supplies and knelt down in front of the blonde, gently moving her hand so she could see.

Gabrielle flinched as the brunette gently examined the injured area "Ouch!" She hissed. "My head _did_ just hit the inside of this hunk of junk, you know."

"Doesn't look too bad," Xena said. "Once we get you back to base they'll be able to fix that right up."

The ship touched down gently and Xena reached out her hand to help Gabrielle to her feet.

*****************************************************************************************************  
"Hey there, C _ommander_ ," Xena said, emphasizing the last word. Gabrielle had finally let that bit of information slip, and Xena had been quick to start using it.

Gabrielle smirked, looking up from the map she was studying. She liked the way her official title rolled off Xena's tongue.

"What's it looking like out there?" Xena walked over to the projection Gabrielle had been studying intently, wiping some grease off her forehead. She stopped next to the blonde and followed her gaze. "So we're here…are all these Empire fighters?"

Gabrielle didn't hear the question. She was too focused on the fact that Xena's hand had come to rest dangerously close to her own. The brunette was doing something to Gabrielle, and she couldn't say she was all too upset about it.

They had kissed. It hadn't been much, but Gabrielle had felt a connection unlike any she had ever experienced before. There was something about the brunette's swagger, her tough talk, her casual approach to rule-breaking, that made Gabrielle weak in the knees. _And_ she was brilliant. Gabrielle had never met anyone with such an encyclopedic knowledge of machinery and battle techniques.

"…Gabrielle?" Xena waved a hand in front of her face. "You paying attention or what?"

"What?" Gabrielle shook her head and realized she had been subconsciously staring at Xena's hand. Xena just laughed.

"I think you need a break."

"But-"

"The Rebels can do without you for twenty minutes." Xena took Gabrielle by the elbow and led her out of the command hub, as Gabrielle spluttered protests the whole way out.

"Xena! There's not-there's no TIME! The Empire-"

Xena cut the blonde off abruptly as she bent over and captured her lips with her own.

Gabrielle tensed up for a split second, surprised by Xena's sudden display of affection, then melted into the taller woman's embrace. She wrapped her arms around Xena's neck, rising up on her toes slightly so she could deepen the kiss. She teased Xena's lips apart with her tongue, and Xena felt her heart begin to race in her chest.

"Gabrielle…" she sighed, breaking the kiss and pulling the commander into a tight hug. "Promise me you'll stay safe tomorrow."

"Only if you promise me that you won't crash that bucket of bolts."

"I guess that can be arranged."

Gabrielle laughed and looked up into Xena's piercing blue eyes.

"You realize you have grease on your face, right?" She hadn't taken in how disheveled Xena looked after making repairs on Argo all afternoon. Her hair was coming out of its usual tight braid, her clothes were dirty, and her face was smeared with grease and sweat.

"Yeah. I was just headed back to clean up and turn in for the night. You should probably think of doing the same, you know." Before Gabrielle could even begin to argue, she felt a strong hand on her lower back begin to guide her toward the barracks.

She rolled her eyes at Xena, but didn't really mean it. As annoyed as she was to admit it, the smuggler was growing on her.


End file.
